Hands-On Exercise 9

Author

Immanuel Leong

Published

October 26, 2024

Modified

October 28, 2024

Calibrating Hedonic Pricing Model for Private Highrise Property with GWR Method

1 Overview

Geographically weighted regression (GWR) is a spatial statistical technique that takes non-stationary variables into consideration (e.g., climate; demographic factors; physical environment characteristics) and models the local relationships between these independent variables and an outcome of interest (also known as dependent variable). In this hands-on exercise, we will learn how to build hedonic pricing models by using GWR methods. The dependent variable is the resale prices of condominium in 2015. The independent variables are divided into either structural and locational.

2 The Data

Two data sets will be used in this model building exercise, they are:

  • URA Master Plan subzone boundary in shapefile format (i.e. MP14_SUBZONE_WEB_PL)

  • condo_resale_2015 in csv format (i.e. condo_resale_2015.csv)

3 Getting Started

Before we get started, it is important for us to install the necessary R packages into R and launch these R packages into R environment.

The R packages needed for this exercise are as follows:

  • R package for building OLS and performing diagnostics tests

  • R package for calibrating geographical weighted family of models

  • R package for multivariate data visualisation and analysis

  • Spatial data handling

    • sf
  • Attribute data handling

    • tidyverse, especially readr, ggplot2 and dplyr
  • Choropleth mapping

    • tmap
  • Creating and customizing ‘ggplot2’- based publication ready plots

    • ggpubr
  • Creating publication-ready summary tables in R

    • gtsummary

The code chunks below installs and launches these R packages into R environment.

pacman::p_load(olsrr, corrplot, ggpubr, sf, spdep, GWmodel, tmap, tidyverse, gtsummary)

4 A short note about GWmodel

GWmodel package provides a collection of localised spatial statistical methods, namely: GW summary statistics, GW principal components analysis, GW discriminant analysis and various forms of GW regression; some of which are provided in basic and robust (outlier resistant) forms. Commonly, outputs or parameters of the GWmodel are mapped to provide a useful exploratory tool, which can often precede (and direct) a more traditional or sophisticated statistical analysis.

5 Geospatial Data Wrangling

5.1 Importing geospatial data

The geospatial data used in this hands-on exercise is called MP14_SUBZONE_WEB_PL. It is in ESRI shapefile format. The shapefile consists of URA Master Plan 2014’s planning subzone boundaries. Polygon features are used to represent these geographic boundaries. The GIS data is in svy21 projected coordinates systems.

The code chunk below is used to import MP_SUBZONE_WEB_PL shapefile by using st_read() of sf packages.

mpsz <- st_read(dsn = "data/geospatial", layer = "MP14_SUBZONE_WEB_PL")
Reading layer `MP14_SUBZONE_WEB_PL' from data source 
  `C:\ImmanuelLeong\IS415-Geospatial\Hands-on_Ex\Hands-on_Ex09\data\geospatial' 
  using driver `ESRI Shapefile'
Simple feature collection with 323 features and 15 fields
Geometry type: MULTIPOLYGON
Dimension:     XY
Bounding box:  xmin: 2667.538 ymin: 15748.72 xmax: 56396.44 ymax: 50256.33
Projected CRS: SVY21

The report above shows that the R object used to contain the imported MP14_SUBZONE_WEB_PL shapefile is called mpsz and it is a simple feature object. The geometry type is multipolygon. It is also important to note that mpsz simple feature object does not have EPSG information.

st_crs(mpsz)
Coordinate Reference System:
  User input: SVY21 
  wkt:
PROJCRS["SVY21",
    BASEGEOGCRS["SVY21[WGS84]",
        DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984",
            ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
                LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
            ID["EPSG",6326]],
        PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]]],
    CONVERSION["unnamed",
        METHOD["Transverse Mercator",
            ID["EPSG",9807]],
        PARAMETER["Latitude of natural origin",1.36666666666667,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8801]],
        PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",103.833333333333,
            ANGLEUNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8802]],
        PARAMETER["Scale factor at natural origin",1,
            SCALEUNIT["unity",1],
            ID["EPSG",8805]],
        PARAMETER["False easting",28001.642,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
            ID["EPSG",8806]],
        PARAMETER["False northing",38744.572,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
            ID["EPSG",8807]]],
    CS[Cartesian,2],
        AXIS["(E)",east,
            ORDER[1],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]],
        AXIS["(N)",north,
            ORDER[2],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1,
                ID["EPSG",9001]]]]

5.2 Updating CRS information

The code chunk below updates the newly imported mpsz with the correct ESPG code for svy21 (i.e. 3414)

mpsz_svy21 <- st_transform(mpsz, 3414)

After transforming the projection metadata, you can verify the projection of the newly transformed mpsz_svy21 by using st_crs() of sf package.

st_crs(mpsz_svy21)
Coordinate Reference System:
  User input: EPSG:3414 
  wkt:
PROJCRS["SVY21 / Singapore TM",
    BASEGEOGCRS["SVY21",
        DATUM["SVY21",
            ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
                LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
        PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
        ID["EPSG",4757]],
    CONVERSION["Singapore Transverse Mercator",
        METHOD["Transverse Mercator",
            ID["EPSG",9807]],
        PARAMETER["Latitude of natural origin",1.36666666666667,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8801]],
        PARAMETER["Longitude of natural origin",103.833333333333,
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433],
            ID["EPSG",8802]],
        PARAMETER["Scale factor at natural origin",1,
            SCALEUNIT["unity",1],
            ID["EPSG",8805]],
        PARAMETER["False easting",28001.642,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
            ID["EPSG",8806]],
        PARAMETER["False northing",38744.572,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1],
            ID["EPSG",8807]]],
    CS[Cartesian,2],
        AXIS["northing (N)",north,
            ORDER[1],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
        AXIS["easting (E)",east,
            ORDER[2],
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]],
    USAGE[
        SCOPE["Cadastre, engineering survey, topographic mapping."],
        AREA["Singapore - onshore and offshore."],
        BBOX[1.13,103.59,1.47,104.07]],
    ID["EPSG",3414]]

Notice that the EPSG: is indicated as 3414 now.

Next, we will reveal the extent of mpsz_svy21 by using st_bbox() of sf package.

st_bbox(mpsz_svy21)
     xmin      ymin      xmax      ymax 
 2667.538 15748.721 56396.440 50256.334 

6 Aspatial Data Wrangling

6.1 Importing the aspatial data

The condo_resale_2015 is in csv file format. The codes chunk below uses read_csv() function of readr package to import condo_resale_2015 into R as a tibble data frame called condo_resale.

condo_resale = read_csv("data/aspatial/Condo_resale_2015.csv")

After importing the data file into R, it is important for us to examine if the data file has been imported correctly.

The codes chunk below uses glimpse() to display the data structure of condo_resale.

glimpse(condo_resale)
Rows: 1,436
Columns: 23
$ LATITUDE             <dbl> 1.287145, 1.328698, 1.313727, 1.308563, 1.321437,…
$ LONGITUDE            <dbl> 103.7802, 103.8123, 103.7971, 103.8247, 103.9505,…
$ POSTCODE             <dbl> 118635, 288420, 267833, 258380, 467169, 466472, 3…
$ SELLING_PRICE        <dbl> 3000000, 3880000, 3325000, 4250000, 1400000, 1320…
$ AREA_SQM             <dbl> 309, 290, 248, 127, 145, 139, 218, 141, 165, 168,…
$ AGE                  <dbl> 30, 32, 33, 7, 28, 22, 24, 24, 27, 31, 17, 22, 6,…
$ PROX_CBD             <dbl> 7.941259, 6.609797, 6.898000, 4.038861, 11.783402…
$ PROX_CHILDCARE       <dbl> 0.16597932, 0.28027246, 0.42922669, 0.39473543, 0…
$ PROX_ELDERLYCARE     <dbl> 2.5198118, 1.9333338, 0.5021395, 1.9910316, 1.121…
$ PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA <dbl> 6.618741, 7.505109, 6.463887, 4.906512, 6.410632,…
$ PROX_HAWKER_MARKET   <dbl> 1.76542207, 0.54507614, 0.37789301, 1.68259969, 0…
$ PROX_KINDERGARTEN    <dbl> 0.05835552, 0.61592412, 0.14120309, 0.38200076, 0…
$ PROX_MRT             <dbl> 0.5607188, 0.6584461, 0.3053433, 0.6910183, 0.528…
$ PROX_PARK            <dbl> 1.1710446, 0.1992269, 0.2779886, 0.9832843, 0.116…
$ PROX_PRIMARY_SCH     <dbl> 1.6340256, 0.9747834, 1.4715016, 1.4546324, 0.709…
$ PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH <dbl> 3.3273195, 0.9747834, 1.4715016, 2.3006394, 0.709…
$ PROX_SHOPPING_MALL   <dbl> 2.2102717, 2.9374279, 1.2256850, 0.3525671, 1.307…
$ PROX_SUPERMARKET     <dbl> 0.9103958, 0.5900617, 0.4135583, 0.4162219, 0.581…
$ PROX_BUS_STOP        <dbl> 0.10336166, 0.28673408, 0.28504777, 0.29872340, 0…
$ NO_Of_UNITS          <dbl> 18, 20, 27, 30, 30, 31, 32, 32, 32, 32, 34, 34, 3…
$ FAMILY_FRIENDLY      <dbl> 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0…
$ FREEHOLD             <dbl> 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1…
$ LEASEHOLD_99YR       <dbl> 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0…

To see the data in LONGITUDE (x-coordinate) column:

head(condo_resale$LONGITUDE)
[1] 103.7802 103.8123 103.7971 103.8247 103.9505 103.9386

To see the data in the LATITUDE (y-coordinate) column:

head(condo_resale$LATITUDE)
[1] 1.287145 1.328698 1.313727 1.308563 1.321437 1.314198

The coordinates appear to be in the wgs84 coordinate reference system (EPSG: 4326).

Next, summary() of base R is used to display the summary statistics of cond_resale tibble data frame.

summary(condo_resale)
    LATITUDE       LONGITUDE        POSTCODE      SELLING_PRICE     
 Min.   :1.240   Min.   :103.7   Min.   : 18965   Min.   :  540000  
 1st Qu.:1.309   1st Qu.:103.8   1st Qu.:259849   1st Qu.: 1100000  
 Median :1.328   Median :103.8   Median :469298   Median : 1383222  
 Mean   :1.334   Mean   :103.8   Mean   :440439   Mean   : 1751211  
 3rd Qu.:1.357   3rd Qu.:103.9   3rd Qu.:589486   3rd Qu.: 1950000  
 Max.   :1.454   Max.   :104.0   Max.   :828833   Max.   :18000000  
    AREA_SQM          AGE           PROX_CBD       PROX_CHILDCARE    
 Min.   : 34.0   Min.   : 0.00   Min.   : 0.3869   Min.   :0.004927  
 1st Qu.:103.0   1st Qu.: 5.00   1st Qu.: 5.5574   1st Qu.:0.174481  
 Median :121.0   Median :11.00   Median : 9.3567   Median :0.258135  
 Mean   :136.5   Mean   :12.14   Mean   : 9.3254   Mean   :0.326313  
 3rd Qu.:156.0   3rd Qu.:18.00   3rd Qu.:12.6661   3rd Qu.:0.368293  
 Max.   :619.0   Max.   :37.00   Max.   :19.1804   Max.   :3.465726  
 PROX_ELDERLYCARE  PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA PROX_HAWKER_MARKET PROX_KINDERGARTEN 
 Min.   :0.05451   Min.   :0.2145       Min.   :0.05182    Min.   :0.004927  
 1st Qu.:0.61254   1st Qu.:3.1643       1st Qu.:0.55245    1st Qu.:0.276345  
 Median :0.94179   Median :4.6186       Median :0.90842    Median :0.413385  
 Mean   :1.05351   Mean   :4.5981       Mean   :1.27987    Mean   :0.458903  
 3rd Qu.:1.35122   3rd Qu.:5.7550       3rd Qu.:1.68578    3rd Qu.:0.578474  
 Max.   :3.94916   Max.   :9.1554       Max.   :5.37435    Max.   :2.229045  
    PROX_MRT         PROX_PARK       PROX_PRIMARY_SCH  PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH
 Min.   :0.05278   Min.   :0.02906   Min.   :0.07711   Min.   :0.07711     
 1st Qu.:0.34646   1st Qu.:0.26211   1st Qu.:0.44024   1st Qu.:1.34451     
 Median :0.57430   Median :0.39926   Median :0.63505   Median :1.88213     
 Mean   :0.67316   Mean   :0.49802   Mean   :0.75471   Mean   :2.27347     
 3rd Qu.:0.84844   3rd Qu.:0.65592   3rd Qu.:0.95104   3rd Qu.:2.90954     
 Max.   :3.48037   Max.   :2.16105   Max.   :3.92899   Max.   :6.74819     
 PROX_SHOPPING_MALL PROX_SUPERMARKET PROX_BUS_STOP       NO_Of_UNITS    
 Min.   :0.0000     Min.   :0.0000   Min.   :0.001595   Min.   :  18.0  
 1st Qu.:0.5258     1st Qu.:0.3695   1st Qu.:0.098356   1st Qu.: 188.8  
 Median :0.9357     Median :0.5687   Median :0.151710   Median : 360.0  
 Mean   :1.0455     Mean   :0.6141   Mean   :0.193974   Mean   : 409.2  
 3rd Qu.:1.3994     3rd Qu.:0.7862   3rd Qu.:0.220466   3rd Qu.: 590.0  
 Max.   :3.4774     Max.   :2.2441   Max.   :2.476639   Max.   :1703.0  
 FAMILY_FRIENDLY     FREEHOLD      LEASEHOLD_99YR  
 Min.   :0.0000   Min.   :0.0000   Min.   :0.0000  
 1st Qu.:0.0000   1st Qu.:0.0000   1st Qu.:0.0000  
 Median :0.0000   Median :0.0000   Median :0.0000  
 Mean   :0.4868   Mean   :0.4227   Mean   :0.4882  
 3rd Qu.:1.0000   3rd Qu.:1.0000   3rd Qu.:1.0000  
 Max.   :1.0000   Max.   :1.0000   Max.   :1.0000  

6.2 Converting aspatial data frame into a sf object

Currently, the condo_resale tibble data frame is aspatial. We will convert it to a sf object. The code chunk below converts condo_resale data frame into a simple feature data frame by using st_as_sf() of sf packages.

condo_resale.sf <- st_as_sf(condo_resale,
                            coords = c("LONGITUDE", "LATITUDE"),
                            crs = 4326) %>%
  st_transform(crs = 3414)

Notice that st_transform() of sf package is used to convert the coordinates from wgs84 (i.e. crs:4326) to svy21 (i.e. crs=3414).

Next, head() is used to list the content of condo_resale.sf object.

head(condo_resale.sf)
Simple feature collection with 6 features and 21 fields
Geometry type: POINT
Dimension:     XY
Bounding box:  xmin: 22085.12 ymin: 29951.54 xmax: 41042.56 ymax: 34546.2
Projected CRS: SVY21 / Singapore TM
# A tibble: 6 × 22
  POSTCODE SELLING_PRICE AREA_SQM   AGE PROX_CBD PROX_CHILDCARE PROX_ELDERLYCARE
     <dbl>         <dbl>    <dbl> <dbl>    <dbl>          <dbl>            <dbl>
1   118635       3000000      309    30     7.94          0.166            2.52 
2   288420       3880000      290    32     6.61          0.280            1.93 
3   267833       3325000      248    33     6.90          0.429            0.502
4   258380       4250000      127     7     4.04          0.395            1.99 
5   467169       1400000      145    28    11.8           0.119            1.12 
6   466472       1320000      139    22    10.3           0.125            0.789
# ℹ 15 more variables: PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA <dbl>, PROX_HAWKER_MARKET <dbl>,
#   PROX_KINDERGARTEN <dbl>, PROX_MRT <dbl>, PROX_PARK <dbl>,
#   PROX_PRIMARY_SCH <dbl>, PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH <dbl>,
#   PROX_SHOPPING_MALL <dbl>, PROX_SUPERMARKET <dbl>, PROX_BUS_STOP <dbl>,
#   NO_Of_UNITS <dbl>, FAMILY_FRIENDLY <dbl>, FREEHOLD <dbl>,
#   LEASEHOLD_99YR <dbl>, geometry <POINT [m]>

Notice that the output is in point feature data frame.

7 Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)

In the section, we will learn how to use statistical graphics functions of ggplot2 package to perform EDA.

7.1 EDA using statistical graphics

We can plot the distribution of SELLING_PRICE by using appropriate Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) as shown in the code chunk below.

ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `SELLING_PRICE`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

The figure above reveals a right skewed distribution. This means that most condominium units were transacted at relative lower prices.

Statistically, the skewed dsitribution can be normalised by using log transformation. The code chunk below is used to derive a new variable called LOG_SELLING_PRICE by using a log transformation on the variable SELLING_PRICE. It is performed using mutate() of dplyr package.

condo_resale.sf <- condo_resale.sf %>%
  mutate(`LOG_SELLING_PRICE` = log(SELLING_PRICE))

Now, we can plot the LOG_SELLING_PRICE using the code chunk below.

ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `LOG_SELLING_PRICE`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

Notice that the distribution is relatively less skewed after the transformation.

7.2 Multiple Histogram Plots distribution of variables

In this section, we will learn how to draw a small multiple histograms (also known as trellis plot) by using ggarrange() of ggpubr package.

The code chunk below is used to create 12 histograms. Then, ggarrange() is used to organised these histograms into a 3 columns by 4 rows small multiple plot.

AREA_SQM <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `AREA_SQM`)) + 
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

AGE <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `AGE`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_CBD <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_CBD`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_CHILDCARE <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_CHILDCARE`)) + 
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_ELDERLYCARE <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_ELDERLYCARE`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, 
                               aes(x = `PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_HAWKER_MARKET <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_HAWKER_MARKET`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_KINDERGARTEN <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_KINDERGARTEN`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_MRT <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_MRT`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_PARK <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_PARK`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_PRIMARY_SCH <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, aes(x = `PROX_PRIMARY_SCH`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH <- ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf, 
                               aes(x = `PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH`)) +
  geom_histogram(bins = 20, color = "black", fill = "light blue")

ggarrange(AREA_SQM, AGE, PROX_CBD, PROX_CHILDCARE, PROX_ELDERLYCARE, 
          PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA, PROX_HAWKER_MARKET, PROX_KINDERGARTEN, PROX_MRT,
          PROX_PARK, PROX_PRIMARY_SCH, PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH,  
          ncol = 3, nrow = 4)

7.3 Drawing Statistical Point Map

Lastly, we want to reveal the geospatial distribution of condominium resale prices in Singapore. The map will be prepared by using tmap package.

First, we will turn on the interactive mode of tmap by using the code chunk below.

tmap_mode("view")

Next, the code chunks below is used to create an interactive point symbol map.

tm_shape(mpsz_svy21) +
  tmap_options(check.and.fix = TRUE) +
  tm_polygons(alpha = 0.5) +
tm_shape(condo_resale.sf) +  
  tm_dots(col = "SELLING_PRICE",
          alpha = 0.6,
          style = "quantile") +
  tm_view(set.zoom.limits = c(11,14))

Notice that tm_dots() is used instead of tm_bubbles().

set.zoom.limits argument of tm_view() sets the minimum and maximum zoom level to 11 and 14 respectively.

Before moving on to the next section, the code below will be used to turn R display into plot mode.

tmap_mode("plot")

8 Hedonic Pricing Modelling in R

In this section, we will learn how to building hedonic pricing models for condominium resale units using lm() of R base.

8.1 Simple Linear Regression Method

First, we will build a simple linear regression model by using SELLING_PRICE as the dependent variable and AREA_SQM as the independent variable.

condo.slr <- lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM, data = condo_resale.sf)

lm() returns an object of class “lm” or, for multiple responses of class, c(“mlm”, “lm”).

The functions summary() and anova() can be used to obtain and print a summary and analysis of variance table of the results. The generic accessor functions coefficients, effects, fitted.values and residuals extract various useful features of the value returned by lm.

summary(condo.slr)

Call:
lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM, data = condo_resale.sf)

Residuals:
     Min       1Q   Median       3Q      Max 
-3695815  -391764   -87517   258900 13503875 

Coefficients:
             Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)    
(Intercept) -258121.1    63517.2  -4.064 5.09e-05 ***
AREA_SQM      14719.0      428.1  34.381  < 2e-16 ***
---
Signif. codes:  0 '***' 0.001 '**' 0.01 '*' 0.05 '.' 0.1 ' ' 1

Residual standard error: 942700 on 1434 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-squared:  0.4518,    Adjusted R-squared:  0.4515 
F-statistic:  1182 on 1 and 1434 DF,  p-value: < 2.2e-16

The output report reveals that the SELLING_PRICE can be explained by using the formula:

y = -258121.1 + 14719x1

The R-squared of 0.4518 reveals that the simple regression model built is able to explain about 45% of the resale prices.

Since p-value is much smaller than 0.0001, we will reject the null hypothesis and infer that the simple linear regression model above is a good estimator of SELLING_PRICE.

The Coefficients: section of the report reveals that the p-values of both the estimates of the Intercept and ARA_SQM are smaller than 0.001. In view of this, the null hypothesis of the B0 and B1 are equal to 0 will be rejected. As a results, we will be able to infer that the B0 and B1 are good parameter estimates.

To visualise the best fit curve on a scatterplot, we can incorporate lm() as a method function in ggplot’s geometry as shown in the code chunk below.

ggplot(data = condo_resale.sf,  
       aes(x = `AREA_SQM`, y = `SELLING_PRICE`)) +
  geom_point() +
  geom_smooth(method = lm)

Figure above reveals that there are a few statistical outliers with relatively high selling prices.

8.2 Multiple Linear Regression Method

8.2.1 Visualising the relationships of the independent variables

Before building a multiple regression model, it is important to ensure that the indepdent variables used are not highly correlated to each other. If these highly correlated independent variables are used in building a regression model by mistake, the quality of the model will be compromised. This phenomenon is known as multicollinearity in statistics.

Correlation matrix is commonly used to visualise the relationships between the independent variables. Beside the pairs() of R, there are many packages support the display of a correlation matrix. In this section, the corrplot package will be used.

The code chunk below is used to plot a scatterplot matrix of the relationship between the independent variables in condo_resale data.frame.

corrplot(cor(condo_resale[, 5:23]), diag = FALSE, order = "AOE",
         tl.pos = "td", tl.cex = 0.5, method = "number", type = "upper")

Matrix reorder is very important for mining the hiden structure and patter in the matrix. There are four methods in corrplot (parameter order), named “AOE”, “FPC”, “hclust”, “alphabet”. In the code chunk above, AOE order is used. It orders the variables by using the angular order of the eigenvectors method suggested by Michael Friendly.

From the scatterplot matrix, it is clear that Freehold is highly correlated to LEASE_99YEAR. In view of this, it is wiser to only include either one of them in the subsequent model building. As a result, LEASE_99YEAR is excluded in the subsequent model building.

8.3 Building a hedonic pricing model using multiple linear regression method

The code chunk below uses lm() to calibrate the multiple linear regression model.

condo.mlr <- lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM + AGE + PROX_CBD + PROX_CHILDCARE + PROX_ELDERLYCARE + PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA + PROX_HAWKER_MARKET + PROX_KINDERGARTEN + PROX_MRT + PROX_PARK + PROX_PRIMARY_SCH + PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH + PROX_SHOPPING_MALL + PROX_SUPERMARKET + PROX_BUS_STOP + NO_Of_UNITS + FAMILY_FRIENDLY + FREEHOLD, data = condo_resale.sf)

summary(condo.mlr)

Call:
lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM + AGE + PROX_CBD + PROX_CHILDCARE + 
    PROX_ELDERLYCARE + PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA + PROX_HAWKER_MARKET + 
    PROX_KINDERGARTEN + PROX_MRT + PROX_PARK + PROX_PRIMARY_SCH + 
    PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH + PROX_SHOPPING_MALL + PROX_SUPERMARKET + 
    PROX_BUS_STOP + NO_Of_UNITS + FAMILY_FRIENDLY + FREEHOLD, 
    data = condo_resale.sf)

Residuals:
     Min       1Q   Median       3Q      Max 
-3475964  -293923   -23069   241043 12260381 

Coefficients:
                       Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)    
(Intercept)           481728.40  121441.01   3.967 7.65e-05 ***
AREA_SQM               12708.32     369.59  34.385  < 2e-16 ***
AGE                   -24440.82    2763.16  -8.845  < 2e-16 ***
PROX_CBD              -78669.78    6768.97 -11.622  < 2e-16 ***
PROX_CHILDCARE       -351617.91  109467.25  -3.212  0.00135 ** 
PROX_ELDERLYCARE      171029.42   42110.51   4.061 5.14e-05 ***
PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA   38474.53   12523.57   3.072  0.00217 ** 
PROX_HAWKER_MARKET     23746.10   29299.76   0.810  0.41782    
PROX_KINDERGARTEN     147468.99   82668.87   1.784  0.07466 .  
PROX_MRT             -314599.68   57947.44  -5.429 6.66e-08 ***
PROX_PARK             563280.50   66551.68   8.464  < 2e-16 ***
PROX_PRIMARY_SCH      180186.08   65237.95   2.762  0.00582 ** 
PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH    2280.04   20410.43   0.112  0.91107    
PROX_SHOPPING_MALL   -206604.06   42840.60  -4.823 1.57e-06 ***
PROX_SUPERMARKET      -44991.80   77082.64  -0.584  0.55953    
PROX_BUS_STOP         683121.35  138353.28   4.938 8.85e-07 ***
NO_Of_UNITS             -231.18      89.03  -2.597  0.00951 ** 
FAMILY_FRIENDLY       140340.77   47020.55   2.985  0.00289 ** 
FREEHOLD              359913.01   49220.22   7.312 4.38e-13 ***
---
Signif. codes:  0 '***' 0.001 '**' 0.01 '*' 0.05 '.' 0.1 ' ' 1

Residual standard error: 755800 on 1417 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-squared:  0.6518,    Adjusted R-squared:  0.6474 
F-statistic: 147.4 on 18 and 1417 DF,  p-value: < 2.2e-16

8.4 Preparing Publication Quality Table: olsrr method

With reference to the report above, it is clear that not all the independent variables are statistically significant. We will revised the model by removing those variables which are not statistically significant.

Now, we are ready to calibrate the revised model by using the code chunk below.

condo.mlr1 <- lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM + AGE + PROX_CBD + PROX_CHILDCARE + PROX_ELDERLYCARE + PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA + PROX_MRT  + PROX_PARK + PROX_PRIMARY_SCH + PROX_SHOPPING_MALL + PROX_BUS_STOP + NO_Of_UNITS + FAMILY_FRIENDLY + FREEHOLD, data = condo_resale.sf)

ols_regress(condo.mlr1)
                                Model Summary                                 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
R                            0.807       RMSE                     751998.679 
R-Squared                    0.651       MSE                571471422208.591 
Adj. R-Squared               0.647       Coef. Var                    43.168 
Pred R-Squared               0.638       AIC                       42966.758 
MAE                     414819.628       SBC                       43051.072 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 RMSE: Root Mean Square Error 
 MSE: Mean Square Error 
 MAE: Mean Absolute Error 
 AIC: Akaike Information Criteria 
 SBC: Schwarz Bayesian Criteria 

                                     ANOVA                                       
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Sum of                                                      
                   Squares          DF         Mean Square       F         Sig. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regression    1.512586e+15          14        1.080418e+14    189.059    0.0000 
Residual      8.120609e+14        1421    571471422208.591                      
Total         2.324647e+15        1435                                          
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                               Parameter Estimates                                                
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               model           Beta    Std. Error    Std. Beta       t        Sig           lower          upper 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         (Intercept)     527633.222    108183.223                   4.877    0.000     315417.244     739849.200 
            AREA_SQM      12777.523       367.479        0.584     34.771    0.000      12056.663      13498.382 
                 AGE     -24687.739      2754.845       -0.167     -8.962    0.000     -30091.739     -19283.740 
            PROX_CBD     -77131.323      5763.125       -0.263    -13.384    0.000     -88436.469     -65826.176 
      PROX_CHILDCARE    -318472.751    107959.512       -0.084     -2.950    0.003    -530249.889    -106695.613 
    PROX_ELDERLYCARE     185575.623     39901.864        0.090      4.651    0.000     107302.737     263848.510 
PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA      39163.254     11754.829        0.060      3.332    0.001      16104.571      62221.936 
            PROX_MRT    -294745.107     56916.367       -0.112     -5.179    0.000    -406394.234    -183095.980 
           PROX_PARK     570504.807     65507.029        0.150      8.709    0.000     442003.938     699005.677 
    PROX_PRIMARY_SCH     159856.136     60234.599        0.062      2.654    0.008      41697.849     278014.424 
  PROX_SHOPPING_MALL    -220947.251     36561.832       -0.115     -6.043    0.000    -292668.213    -149226.288 
       PROX_BUS_STOP     682482.221    134513.243        0.134      5.074    0.000     418616.359     946348.082 
         NO_Of_UNITS       -245.480        87.947       -0.053     -2.791    0.005       -418.000        -72.961 
     FAMILY_FRIENDLY     146307.576     46893.021        0.057      3.120    0.002      54320.593     238294.560 
            FREEHOLD     350599.812     48506.485        0.136      7.228    0.000     255447.802     445751.821 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8.5 Preparing Publication Quality Table: gtsummary method

The gtsummary package provides an elegant and flexible way to create publication-ready summary tables in R.

In the code chunk below, tbl_regression() is used to create a well formatted regression report.

tbl_regression(condo.mlr1, intercept = TRUE)
Characteristic Beta 95% CI1 p-value
(Intercept) 527,633 315,417, 739,849 <0.001
AREA_SQM 12,778 12,057, 13,498 <0.001
AGE -24,688 -30,092, -19,284 <0.001
PROX_CBD -77,131 -88,436, -65,826 <0.001
PROX_CHILDCARE -318,473 -530,250, -106,696 0.003
PROX_ELDERLYCARE 185,576 107,303, 263,849 <0.001
PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA 39,163 16,105, 62,222 <0.001
PROX_MRT -294,745 -406,394, -183,096 <0.001
PROX_PARK 570,505 442,004, 699,006 <0.001
PROX_PRIMARY_SCH 159,856 41,698, 278,014 0.008
PROX_SHOPPING_MALL -220,947 -292,668, -149,226 <0.001
PROX_BUS_STOP 682,482 418,616, 946,348 <0.001
NO_Of_UNITS -245 -418, -73 0.005
FAMILY_FRIENDLY 146,308 54,321, 238,295 0.002
FREEHOLD 350,600 255,448, 445,752 <0.001
1 CI = Confidence Interval

With gtsummary package, model statistics can be included in the report by either appending them to the report table by using add_glance_table() or adding as a table source note by using add_glance_source_note() as shown in the code chunk below.

tbl_regression(condo.mlr1, 
               intercept = TRUE) %>% 
  add_glance_source_note(
    label = list(sigma ~ "\U03C3"),
    include = c(r.squared, adj.r.squared, 
                AIC, statistic,
                p.value, sigma))
Characteristic Beta 95% CI1 p-value
(Intercept) 527,633 315,417, 739,849 <0.001
AREA_SQM 12,778 12,057, 13,498 <0.001
AGE -24,688 -30,092, -19,284 <0.001
PROX_CBD -77,131 -88,436, -65,826 <0.001
PROX_CHILDCARE -318,473 -530,250, -106,696 0.003
PROX_ELDERLYCARE 185,576 107,303, 263,849 <0.001
PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA 39,163 16,105, 62,222 <0.001
PROX_MRT -294,745 -406,394, -183,096 <0.001
PROX_PARK 570,505 442,004, 699,006 <0.001
PROX_PRIMARY_SCH 159,856 41,698, 278,014 0.008
PROX_SHOPPING_MALL -220,947 -292,668, -149,226 <0.001
PROX_BUS_STOP 682,482 418,616, 946,348 <0.001
NO_Of_UNITS -245 -418, -73 0.005
FAMILY_FRIENDLY 146,308 54,321, 238,295 0.002
FREEHOLD 350,600 255,448, 445,752 <0.001
R² = 0.651; Adjusted R² = 0.647; AIC = 42,967; Statistic = 189; p-value = <0.001; σ = 755,957
1 CI = Confidence Interval

8.5.1 Checking for multicolinearity

In this section, we would like to introduce a fantastic R package specially programmed for performing OLS regression. It is called olsrr. It provides a collection of very useful methods for building better multiple linear regression models:

  • comprehensive regression output

  • residual diagnostics

  • measures of influence

  • heteroskedasticity tests

  • collinearity diagnostics

  • model fit assessment

  • variable contribution assessment

  • variable selection procedures

In the code chunk below, the ols_vif_tol() of olsrr package is used to test if there are sign of multicollinearity.

ols_vif_tol(condo.mlr1)
              Variables Tolerance      VIF
1              AREA_SQM 0.8728554 1.145665
2                   AGE 0.7071275 1.414172
3              PROX_CBD 0.6356147 1.573280
4        PROX_CHILDCARE 0.3066019 3.261559
5      PROX_ELDERLYCARE 0.6598479 1.515501
6  PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA 0.7510311 1.331503
7              PROX_MRT 0.5236090 1.909822
8             PROX_PARK 0.8279261 1.207837
9      PROX_PRIMARY_SCH 0.4524628 2.210126
10   PROX_SHOPPING_MALL 0.6738795 1.483945
11        PROX_BUS_STOP 0.3514118 2.845664
12          NO_Of_UNITS 0.6901036 1.449058
13      FAMILY_FRIENDLY 0.7244157 1.380423
14             FREEHOLD 0.6931163 1.442759

Since the VIF of the independent variables are less than 10. We can safely conclude that there are no sign of multicollinearity among the independent variables.

8.5.2 Test for Non-Linearity

In multiple linear regression, it is important for us to test the assumption of linearity and additivity of the relationship between dependent and independent variables.

In the code chunk below, the ols_plot_resid_fit() of olsrr package is used to perform linearity assumption test.

ols_plot_resid_fit(condo.mlr1)

The figure above reveals that most of the data points are scattered around the 0 line, hence we can safely conclude that the relationships between the dependent variable and independent variables are linear.

8.5.3 Test for Normality Assumption

Lastly, the code chunk below uses ols_plot_resid_hist() of olsrr package to perform normality assumption test.

ols_plot_resid_hist(condo.mlr1)

The figure reveals that the residuals of the multiple linear regression model (i.e. condo.mlr1) resemble normal distribution.

If we prefer formal statistical test methods, the ols_test_normality() of olsrr package can be used as shown in the code chun below.

ols_test_normality(condo.mlr1)
-----------------------------------------------
       Test             Statistic       pvalue  
-----------------------------------------------
Shapiro-Wilk              0.6856         0.0000 
Kolmogorov-Smirnov        0.1366         0.0000 
Cramer-von Mises         121.0768        0.0000 
Anderson-Darling         67.9551         0.0000 
-----------------------------------------------

The summary table above reveals that the p-values of the four tests are way smaller than the alpha value of 0.05. Hence we will reject the null hypothesis and infer that there is statistical evidence that the residuals are not normally distributed.

8.5.4 Testing for Spatial Autocorrelation

The hedonic model we try to build is using geographically referenced attributes, hence it is also important for us to visualise the residual of the hedonic pricing model.

First, we will export the residuals of the hedonic pricing model and save this as a data frame.

mlr.output <- as.data.frame(condo.mlr1$residuals)

Next, we will join the newly created data frame with condo_resale.sf object.

condo_resale.res.sf <- cbind(condo_resale.sf, 
                        condo.mlr1$residuals) %>%
rename(`MLR_RES` = `condo.mlr1.residuals`)

Next, we will convert condo_resale.res.sf from simple feature object into a SpatialPointsDataFrame because spdep package can only process sp conformed spatial data objects.

The code chunk below will be used to perform the data conversion process.

condo_resale.sp <- as_Spatial(condo_resale.res.sf)
condo_resale.sp
class       : SpatialPointsDataFrame 
features    : 1436 
extent      : 14940.85, 43352.45, 24765.67, 48382.81  (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)
crs         : +proj=tmerc +lat_0=1.36666666666667 +lon_0=103.833333333333 +k=1 +x_0=28001.642 +y_0=38744.572 +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0,0,0,0,0 +units=m +no_defs 
variables   : 23
names       : POSTCODE, SELLING_PRICE, AREA_SQM, AGE,    PROX_CBD, PROX_CHILDCARE, PROX_ELDERLYCARE, PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA, PROX_HAWKER_MARKET, PROX_KINDERGARTEN,    PROX_MRT,   PROX_PARK, PROX_PRIMARY_SCH, PROX_TOP_PRIMARY_SCH, PROX_SHOPPING_MALL, ... 
min values  :    18965,        540000,       34,   0, 0.386916393,    0.004927023,      0.054508623,          0.214539508,        0.051817113,       0.004927023, 0.052779424, 0.029064164,      0.077106132,          0.077106132,                  0, ... 
max values  :   828833,       1.8e+07,      619,  37, 19.18042832,     3.46572633,      3.949157205,           9.15540001,        5.374348075,       2.229045366,  3.48037319,  2.16104919,      3.928989144,          6.748192062,        3.477433767, ... 

Next, we will use tmap package to display the distribution of the residuals on an interactive map.

The code churn below will turn on the interactive mode of tmap.

tmap_mode("view")

The code chunks below is used to create an interactive point symbol map.

tm_shape(mpsz_svy21)+
  tmap_options(check.and.fix = TRUE) +
  tm_polygons(alpha = 0.4) +
tm_shape(condo_resale.res.sf) +  
  tm_dots(col = "MLR_RES",
          alpha = 0.6,
          style="quantile") +
  tm_view(set.zoom.limits = c(11,14))

Remember to switch back to “plot” mode before continuing.

tmap_mode("plot")

The figure above reveal that there is sign of spatial autocorrelation.

To proof that our observation is indeed true, the Moran’s I test will be performed

First, we will compute the distance-based weight matrix by using dnearneigh() function of spdep.

nb <- dnearneigh(coordinates(condo_resale.sp), 0, 1500, longlat = FALSE)
summary(nb)
Neighbour list object:
Number of regions: 1436 
Number of nonzero links: 66266 
Percentage nonzero weights: 3.213526 
Average number of links: 46.14624 
10 disjoint connected subgraphs
Link number distribution:

  1   3   5   7   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24 
  3   3   9   4   3  15  10  19  17  45  19   5  14  29  19   6  35  45  18  47 
 25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44 
 16  43  22  26  21  11   9  23  22  13  16  25  21  37  16  18   8  21   4  12 
 45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64 
  8  36  18  14  14  43  11  12   8  13  12  13   4   5   6  12  11  20  29  33 
 65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72  73  74  75  76  77  78  79  80  81  82  83  84 
 15  20  10  14  15  15  11  16  12  10   8  19  12  14   9   8   4  13  11   6 
 85  86  87  88  89  90  91  92  93  94  95  96  97  98  99 100 101 102 103 104 
  4   9   4   4   4   6   2  16   9   4   5   9   3   9   4   2   1   2   1   1 
105 106 107 108 109 110 112 116 125 
  1   5   9   2   1   3   1   1   1 
3 least connected regions:
193 194 277 with 1 link
1 most connected region:
285 with 125 links

Next, nb2listw() of spdep packge will be used to convert the output neighbours lists (i.e. nb) into a spatial weights matrix.

nb_lw <- nb2listw(nb, style = 'W')
summary(nb_lw)
Characteristics of weights list object:
Neighbour list object:
Number of regions: 1436 
Number of nonzero links: 66266 
Percentage nonzero weights: 3.213526 
Average number of links: 46.14624 
10 disjoint connected subgraphs
Link number distribution:

  1   3   5   7   9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24 
  3   3   9   4   3  15  10  19  17  45  19   5  14  29  19   6  35  45  18  47 
 25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44 
 16  43  22  26  21  11   9  23  22  13  16  25  21  37  16  18   8  21   4  12 
 45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64 
  8  36  18  14  14  43  11  12   8  13  12  13   4   5   6  12  11  20  29  33 
 65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72  73  74  75  76  77  78  79  80  81  82  83  84 
 15  20  10  14  15  15  11  16  12  10   8  19  12  14   9   8   4  13  11   6 
 85  86  87  88  89  90  91  92  93  94  95  96  97  98  99 100 101 102 103 104 
  4   9   4   4   4   6   2  16   9   4   5   9   3   9   4   2   1   2   1   1 
105 106 107 108 109 110 112 116 125 
  1   5   9   2   1   3   1   1   1 
3 least connected regions:
193 194 277 with 1 link
1 most connected region:
285 with 125 links

Weights style: W 
Weights constants summary:
     n      nn   S0       S1       S2
W 1436 2062096 1436 94.81916 5798.341

Next, lm.morantest() of spdep package will be used to perform Moran’s I test for residual spatial autocorrelation

lm.morantest(condo.mlr1, nb_lw)

    Global Moran I for regression residuals

data:  
model: lm(formula = SELLING_PRICE ~ AREA_SQM + AGE + PROX_CBD +
PROX_CHILDCARE + PROX_ELDERLYCARE + PROX_URA_GROWTH_AREA + PROX_MRT +
PROX_PARK + PROX_PRIMARY_SCH + PROX_SHOPPING_MALL + PROX_BUS_STOP +
NO_Of_UNITS + FAMILY_FRIENDLY + FREEHOLD, data = condo_resale.sf)
weights: nb_lw

Moran I statistic standard deviate = 24.366, p-value < 2.2e-16
alternative hypothesis: greater
sample estimates:
Observed Moran I      Expectation         Variance 
    1.438876e-01    -5.487594e-03     3.758259e-05 

The Global Moran’s I test for residual spatial autocorrelation shows that its p-value is less than 0.00000000000000022 which is less than the alpha value of 0.05. Hence, we will reject the null hypothesis that the residuals are randomly distributed.

Since the Observed Global Moran I = 0.1424418 which is greater than 0, we can infer than the residuals resemble cluster distribution.